


New Arrivals

by championofnone



Series: Hard Choices & Lifelong Consequences [2]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Gen, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 10:59:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5825983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/championofnone/pseuds/championofnone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>MacCready promised his son he'd see him soon. Erin Brawley just moved that date a little closer than he'd thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Arrivals

Sanctuary was becoming one of the most developed settlements in the Commonwealth, and it felt like it was growing by the minute. The settlers had secured running water to two of the four newly-built houses, created a fully operational farm with fertile ground, and the brahmin pen grew at least every other week. 

Soon enough, Sanctuary was once again safe enough for families to thrive. Shaun was delighted by being around others his age instead of around Erin’s friends, even though he still trailed after Piper and Nick on a regular basis. 

It was early March when Erin brought up the idea of building a school in the settlement. “With as many families as we have coming in,” she explained, “I really think it could help. Between all of us, we know enough to cover the basics.”

“Honestly, it’s not a bad idea,” Nick agreed. “Between Curie and yourself, a lot of topics are covered already.”

Piper looked between them, excited. “I can help with teaching them to write. Not just writing-writing, but how to do letters and how to set type-keys and everything.”

“You mean you can do more than pick a jail cell lock?” MacCready laughed, feet propped up on the table a few of them were seated at, hands busying at a piece of paper.

“Because you’re one to talk, Blamco.” 

He raised an eyebrow at her at the nickname. “You’ve been arrested more times than anyone else here, except maybe Cait.”

Piper waved him off, ignoring his and Erin’s laughter. “I know a few people in Diamond City who might be able to help out, too.”

Piper’s hopeful look wasn’t lost on her friend. “You wanna bring Nat here?” Erin asked. 

She nodded vigorously. “She’s been in Diamond City mostly for the school. I still can’t believe you let us use your place there.”

Erin shrugged. “Home Plate was empty, and there’s more room for you guys to stretch out there. I own more property now than I ever did pre-war. I can’t be using all of it at once, so someone ought to.”

“Still, Blue. It means a lot.” 

Nick caught Piper’s attention, the two delving into a discussion about what topics a school at Sanctuary should cover. Erin’s attention drifted to MacCready, who was now staring at the paper in his hands like it held the meaning of life to it. She made her way over, rubbing her fingers against the back of his neck as she leaned on the chair with her hip. “Hey there, what’s with the paper?”

MacCready held it still for a moment before offering it to her. She opened it, being as gentle with the worn paper as she could be as she read it. A child’s large handwriting was scribbled on it in what looked like charcoal, a simple ‘Come home?’ written across it. Her expression softened as she refolded it and handed it back to him.

“It came in with the last caravan Daisy got,” MacCready explained, rubbing a hand down his face. “I miss him, Erin.”

“I know you do,” she frowned. She heard a knock at the front door and looked up to see Nick ushering a still-rambling Piper out, nodding slightly to tell her they’d give the two some privacy. “Did they bring any other news? How’s the medicine working out?”

A smile tugged at his lips as she pulled a chair in front of him, taking his unoccupied hand; he stroked hers in return. “Yeah, it’s working. His balance is still terrible, but the boils are gone and his energy’s back. I almost hugged Daisy when she told me the news.”

Erin smiled. “You said the farm he’s on it just outside the D.C. area, right? That’s not terribly far, about two weeks there and back.” 

He tried not to show it, but Erin knew him better, watching as the bridge of his nose crinkled. “It’s not far, no, but I’ll figure this out. I’m not about to leave you here, either, and Shaun’s not adjusted enough to be without you or to travel like that.”

“Mac,” she started, moving her other hand to his cheek. Some part of her would never stop hurting when he looked at her like whatever she was saying was something he didn’t deserve. “We’ll find a way to get Duncan here, okay? I promise.”

He shook his head. “I’ll figure it out, Erin. It’s fine.” He tugged his hand back, tucking the paper into his jacket’s pocket before standing. “I’m gonna go fix up my rifle, the barrel needs cleaning.” 

It was a few hours before that abruptly-ended conversation stopped replaying in her head as she helped Shaun with the small garden Erin kept outside the house. “Mom?” She hummed in acknowledgement, too distracted to properly reply. “Is there something wrong with Da - I mean, with RJ?”

Erin froze. MacCready had refused to hear her son use his last name, and Shaun gleefully took to the privilege of being the only one who got to use that particular nickname. That wasn’t what caught her attention, however; it hadn’t slipped by her that he’d nearly called him ‘dad.’ 

She stopped what she was doing, resting her hands on her thighs as she looked at Shaun, the poor kid’s face nearly red enough to match his hair. “Shaun, have you asked him?” 

He looked grateful that she didn’t address the name slip-up. “I want to, but…he seems sadder than normal lately. Is it about that paper he got from Miss Daisy?” 

Erin raised her eyebrow at him. “I didn’t know that little trip he took you on was to Goodneighbor,” she said dryly. That’d be a separate conversation about not telling her where they were actually going, but that could wait. “But yes, it’s from Miss Daisy.”

Shaun looked thoughtful as he toyed with their Commonwealth strawberry, one of Curie’s attempts at recreating the fruit. “I bet he misses his son a lot. Piper told me you missed me a lot while I was at the Institute.”

“How much did Piper tell you?” she asked. She’d told them to avoid this topic with Shaun as much as possible until he was older and she could show him what happened, but Piper was never good at keeping secrets. 

“Not much,” he shrugged. “She told me the first thing you said when you guys met was that you were looking for me, and that you yelled at the mayor because he was being a jerk about helping you. And that you fought a lot of bad guys to find where they took me. And that you, Dogmeat, and Mister Valentine did a lot to find the guy that took me. She wouldn’t tell me anything that happened after that, though.”

“I wasn’t a nice person to a lot of people in order to find you, Shaun,” she explained, trying to keep her voice level. It was hard to keep her emotions in check talking about the Institute, about Father. “I had to hurt people I didn’t want to, but sometimes you have to do things you don’t like to help people you love.” 

“Then we have to get him here, Mom,” he urged, hazel eyes pleading at her. “We have to do _something_.” 

“I’ll figure something out, kiddo, don’t you worry.” Things were quiet for a moment before she spoke again. “You sure you don’t mind having a little brother around?”

Shaun didn’t reply, but his grin told her everything she needed to know. 

She tracked Nick down later that night, laying out her plan. They’d travel to Goodneighbor, and Nick would leave with the caravan when they went back to D.C., and he’d be the one to escort Duncan up to Sanctuary. She’d pay whatever caps they wanted for bringing an extra person on the trip, but after everything she went through to get to Shaun, she wasn’t going to risk Duncan running into another Kellogg-type person. Nick was the perfect answer for what she needed; she trusted him above anyone else in the Commonwealth. 

The hardest part would be keeping it a secret so she could surprise MacCready. She felt terrible not telling him her plans, but she knew him better; as much as he talked big about going after things, he wasn’t keen on asking anyone else for anything for himself, not about anything that mattered, at least. Sometimes she was still amazed he asked for help for finding Duncan’s medicine, the man was so stubborn and determined to do things himself. It was a constant source of frustration for her. 

It took ten days before MacCready started acting particularly snarky and withdrawn, even around Erin, and she couldn’t avoid making him sit and talk to her any longer. She brought it up one night when he was smoking in bed, the two of them lounging around after making a few supply runs to nearby settlements all day. She was absently thumbing the book she was trying to read as her head rested on his thigh, but she’d read the same paragraph three times without absorbing any of it. It was useless trying to hold off any longer. She folded the page and set it down, rubbing at her eyes. 

“Something wrong?” MacCready asked, empty hand coming to rest in her hair. “You’re hardly ever this quiet.”

“Stress, I guess,” she replied. “I’ve been thinking a lot.”

“Really?” She swore she could hear his smile for once, a nice change from the past few days. “That’s never a good thing.”

Erin pushed her head up at his hand in rebuttal. “Hush, you. It’s just nice to see Sanctuary alive again. After everything that happened last year, getting Shaun back, being able to actually give Nate a funeral…I hadn’t seen all this coming.”

“What, like this wasn’t your goal?”

She hummed. “Before I met you, or anyone else here, really, I couldn’t bring myself to leave the bedroom of my old house. I thought maybe if I stayed there long enough, I could convince myself that things might be okay again. That this was just some fucking nightmare I would wake up from.” She curled onto her side, burying her face into his hip. “It took a long time for me to be able to let go of thinking like that. You’re part of why I was able to get past it.” 

She figured he snubbed out his cigarette as his hand came to rest on her waist, the other still carding through her hair. “You know I feel the same way, Erin,” he said softly, “so what’s this really all about?”

Erin hesitated. She wanted, _ached_ to tell him about Duncan, about what she was doing, but she also desperately wanted that to be a surprise for him, proof that she was willing to go far in order to make his family whole again. So, she decided on Plan B. She sat up, dislodging his hand from her hair as she turned to face him. Even sitting, she was a good few inches shorter than him. 

“Close your eyes, okay?” He raised an eyebrow at her before doing as she asked. She took his left hand off of her hip and slowly trailed her thumb across his palm. “I really like your hands, you know that?”

MacCready snorted. “Well, you certainly haven’t complained about them before.”

“Mac!” she laughed, smacking his chest lightly. He smiled at her, keeping his eyes shut as she’d asked. “Be serious.”

“Oh, but I am-”

“Robert.”

“Okay, okay,” he laughed, “go on, knockout.”

She grinned at the nickname. “Flatterer. Anyway, I think they’d look even nicer with this.” She slipped the small silver band onto his ring finger, and she felt him stop breathing. 

She’d added her ring to Nate’s on his dog tags that she wore for well over a year, but the rings now rested in his coffin. She couldn’t bring herself to put the dog tags down with him, instead keeping them in a box she’d carved very carefully some months ago where they and MacCready’s wooden soldier now rested. 

Erin watched his expression carefully, but he was just as careful not to let anything show. “You can open your eyes, now,” she said quietly, shifting nervously and staring at a corner of the bed. 

He lifted his hand up closer as he inspected the band, her nerves fraying further with every second of silence. She was never more grateful she’d rebuilt the house for Shaun to have his own room; this would have been unbearable to deal with if he’d been around. 

“Erin…babe, are you sure about this?” If possible, his voice was quieter than hers. She gathered enough courage to look him in the eye, and couldn’t place his expression at all. Fear? Wonder? Affection? She didn’t know where to start. “This - this is a big deal.”

She nodded. “Did you know Shaun called you dad today?” A shocked look took over whatever he’d been showing before. She wanted to smile, but held back for now. “He did. I was…I was waiting until I knew he was okay with everything, and I…I really think this will all work out, Robert.” 

Erin watched his throat bob as he swallowed hard, but didn’t have time to react as he surged forward, wrapping hand hand around the back of her head and the other around her waist, hauling her into his lap. The noise she made was choked off as he kissed her hard. Her head spun with all of it, her hands coming up to frame his jaw, but she wasn’t about to complain. 

They broke for air what felt like an hour later, breathing just a little hard, and she could feel his smile. “Did you make one for yourself?” She shook her head; she’d been too worried he’d say no to make herself one. “Good, then I get to do it.”

She laughed, feeling lighter than she had in weeks. “Okay, Mac. Do it however you’d like.” He nosed at her throat as his arm tightened around her waist, and Erin tried to repress the shiver that went through her. “I have one more surprise for you, but you’ll have to wait a little bit for it, okay?” Erin felt him laugh as he nipped at her throat, her breath catching. “I mean it, it’s a big surprise. I’m not gonna tell you anything.”

“Okay, fine,” he muttered, voice dropping, “but I’m kind of done talking right now, if you don’t mind shutting up.” 

She tugged at his hair to bring his face level to hers again before she spoke against his lips. “I think you’re gonna have to do that for me.”

“Gladly,” he grinned, closing the gap once again. 

She was twice as glad as before that Shaun had his own room.

The next three days passed quickly, and on the morning of the fourth she was woken by Shaun shaking her shoulder carefully as not to wake up MacCready lying next to her. “Hm? Shaun? What is it, baby?”

“Mom! Dogmeat’s back, and he’s not the note from Cait on his collar! They’re leaving the Red Rocket in an hour!” His grin was infectious. They’d set up Dogmeat as their warning signal a day ago for Cait to send down to Sanctuary once Nick and Duncan had arrived there, mostly so she had time to get MacCready ready for what she hoped was the surprise of a lifetime. 

She whispered to her son to go get Dogmeat some breakfast, and he scampered out quickly, the dog hot on his heels and jumping around excitedly. She watched them for a second before rolling over to wake up her fiance - husband? She wasn’t sure how post-apocalypse marriages worked. She’d ask him later. “Mac? Hey, wake up.” 

He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut before squinting at her, blinking blearily before breaking out into a huge grin. Still half-asleep, he pulled her closer to him and buried his face into her shoulder. “Mornin’, beautiful. Do we have to get up?”

Erin chuckled. “Yes, we do. Shaun’s already been in, and today’s the day you get to see your surprise.”

He groaned again. “Is gonna be another box of Blamco? Because that was funny once. It wasn’t funny after Piper caught on.”

“Not my fault it works with your name, dear.”

He kissed her cheek as he lifted onto his elbows. “Yeah, well, the joke’ll be on you, too. If you want the name, that is.” 

She smiled at him, hand coming up to rest on his cheek. “We’ll talk about the names later, okay? It’ll all be sorted out. We have more important things to do today.”

She slipped out of bed, ignoring his whine, and got them ready in the next forty minutes. She’d convinced him to agree to putting the blindfold on just as she saw Nick rounding the corner with a small child holding his softer hand. A ghoul was trailing slightly behind them, but she paid him no attention at the moment. Shaun was practically bouncing on his heels next to her as she kept one hand on MacCready’s shoulder. 

“Can I take this stupid thing off now?” he sighed.

“Count to fifteen,” was all she replied with. He sarcastically started counting, smiling when Shaun giggled at it, and the second he hit fifteen Erin tugged the blindfold loose. He blinked hard twice before he focused on Nick and his charge, and - 

\- he was off, bolting to the bridge as Duncan broke free from Nick. His knees hit the ground as Duncan threw his arms around his shoulders, beaming a toothy grin from ear to ear. “Daddy!”

“Duncan! I - how -” he couldn’t get a single word out, clutching his son to him like he’d disappear if he let go. Erin understood as Shaun took her hand and squeezed. “What are you doing here, Champ?” Everyone politely ignored the tears running down MacCready’s face.

“No no, don’t cry! I’m here, I’m good!” Duncan said, rubbing his hand against his dad’s cheek. “I’m better! I’m not blue anymore!”

“I can see that,” he grinned, eyes still watery. “But what are you doing here? How-?” He looked up at Nick, probably hoping for an answer, but all the detective did was stare very pointedly at Erin. “Erin?”

She smiled sheepishly. “I told you I’d find a way, Robert. He needs his dad.” 

MacCready looked at her like he absolutely could not believe his luck, quickly picking Duncan up and tucking him close as he marched over to her, wrapping a hand around the back of Erin’s neck and kissing her soundly. Her brain short-circuited as her empty hand settled on his waist. He pulled away when Duncan giggled. Erin couldn’t help smiling as MacCready place one on his son’s forehead and while Shaun’s face was stuck in the usual grimace he had when they kissed in front of him.

“I love you,” he said, rubbing his thumb along her neck, “and we’re talking about this later.”

“I know, but this was all worth it.” She reached up and wiped the last of the wetness from his cheek as she smiled. He looked much too adorably fond of the entire situation to be actually angry at her, and she wasn’t worried in the slightest. 

“So, Mom,” Shaun said, grabbing their attention, “does this mean I get a little brother?” 

She looked at MacCready, who looked like he was about to start crying again. Duncan hummed happily against his shoulder. “Yeah, buddy, you do.” Shaun’s grin looked almost painful as he launched himself at MacCready, almost falling over with the force of the hug as Shaun’s arms locked around his hips. “Easy, there, don’t need any accidents.”

“I won’t! I’ll be super careful, I promise!” He looked up eagerly. “Can I introduce Duncan to Dogmeat? And Piper! Piper will so want to meet him!”

“We can talk to Piper later, Shaun,” Erin replied, “but if Mac says it’s okay, Dogmeat’s fine.” 

“Can I, Dad?” 

MacCready froze, taking a deep breath before replying to the kid still hugging him. “Yeah. Yeah, go ahead, Shaun.” He knelt down, carefully setting Duncan on the ground before speaking to him. “You don’t leave Shaun’s side, okay? You guys are gonna go see Dogmeat, he’ll keep you safe. Don’t wander past the generators.” Duncan nodded, happily taking Shaun’s hand as the older boy chattered away at him, telling him about all the tricks Dogmeat had learned since Erin found him. 

“Erin,” Nick’s voice interrupted them, bringing them back to reality. “There’s someone here who really wants to meet you.” 

“Yes?” she waved at the ghoul, squeezing MacCready’s shoulder as he stared at the boys wandering near the fence by Dogmeat’s mat. She figured he’d join her in a minute as she approached the other two. “Can I help you?”

The ghoul just stared at her, almost as if he couldn’t believe she was standing in front of him. He couldn’t have been older than 16 when the bombs fell, unless he had a Handcock-esque incident, but she doubted it. Suddenly, his arms were tight around her shoulders as he sobbed. 

“I - are you alright?” she asked, completely bewildered. She hugged him back as the poor kid cried even harder. “What’s wrong?” She looked at Nick, hoping he had some answers. 

He shrugged. “I dunno, kid wouldn’t say anything except that he knew you, and had to see if I was, to quote, ‘a lying hunk of metal or not.’” 

Erin wracked her brain, thinking who could possibly have survived the bombs that she knew as young as this ghoul. Her eyes widened as her memory clicked, and - 

“- no,” she whispered, pulling roughly at his shoulders to see his face. The skin might not be the same, but she’d know her family’s cheekbones anywhere. “Oliver?”

He nodded, a fresh wave of tears hitting. “Aunt Erin,” he hiccupped, “I heard about everything, I just - I can’t believe -”

“Calm down, it’s okay, I’ve got you.”

He took a few deep breaths before continuing. “Mom - mom made it to the vault, but it came so quickly, I was at school, and just. It hurt. It hurt so much.”

“You’ve got me here, okay, buddy? You know us Brawleys. Through thick and thin and all that. We have all the time in the world to catch up.” MacCready’d made his way over, and she smiled at him. “Wanna meet the newest of the family?” She ignored Nick’s smirk as she waited for Oliver’s reply.

His black eyes blinked owlishly at MacCready, who simply smiled at him. “I, uh, I guess so.” MacCready offered his hand, and her nephew shook it readily. 

There’d be a lot to go through, and she was going to catch hell from Nick and Piper, but she had her family as intact as it could be, and that was really all she could ever ask for.

**Author's Note:**

> @Bethesda fight me, why is there no "Bring Duncan to the Commonwealth" DLC??


End file.
